June 10, 2019

Recently-announced Rent Assist cuts are just the latest example of Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister’s moves to attack supports for low income residents Ã¢ÂÂ — despite promising, while campaigning, to treat poverty as a key issue for the province.

According to a provincial break-down by Citizens for Public Justice, Manitoba has the highest poverty rate in Canada, with one-in-five currently living below the poverty line. That translates to 25% of children living in poverty and it’s forced 115,000 Manitobans to rely on the province’s Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) programs.

During the 2016 leadership debate, Pallister called poverty “the number one issue” in his province. But, as premier, many of his cuts, sell offs and policy moves have been bad news for minimum wage workers and support recipients.